I fish smallmouths in rivers with short-handled spinning rods ranging in length from 5'9" to 6'0". The spool diameter on my reels is 44 mm. They are spooled with 8# Power Pro line. I want to replace the guides on these rods with Fuji Concept Alconites using the New Guide Concept System. Was thinking about the following guide set: 30-16-10-6-6-6 with a 6 tip, but before ordering them I have two questions for someone with more experience:

1) A 25 mm butt guide would be lighter but my reels have a 44 mm spool diameter. How much would casting distance be impaired if I go with a 25 mm butt guide instead of the larger 30 mm butt guide for reels of this size? Basically, which size of butt guide would you recommend?

2) Does the size selection of the guides mentioned above make sense for 5'9" to 6'0" rods?

Thanks,

Joe

I would look into these guides for the first and or second guide from the reel, then go to the Alconites.
[www.mudhole.com]
[www.mudhole.com]
You get the height you need off the blank better I think with them. With using that line, you could easily use a 25 or even go down to a 20 or 16. You would just have to play with the distance the guide is from the reel. You would also be adding less weight using these guides.

I would definitely go with the 25. Personally, on rod that size I would go with 25 , 10 (or 8) and blag 6 the rest. No need to use more than 3 guide sizes on a rod. Let the static test let you know the number of guides and placement. I would start with 7 and adjust from there.
You might want to add a few more sizes to your order for static testing and test casting. Won't cost much and will save on shipping.

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

Joe,
If you’re only using braid, you can easily get by with a #12 butt guide. The braid will also allow you to use smaller spooled/lighter reels. If you’ll unhide your email (or send me an email), I’ll send you the results of test casting that was done a couple of years ago using smaller guides.

Jim,

If you don't mind, I would like a copy of your data. I rarely use braid, personally, so it should help me know where the limits are.

Thanks,

Joe

You get the butt guide in the right location for that line and reel, you can go smaller in size. You will have to adjust the position of the butt guide to find the optimal position for the setup.

Many of us use a Y frame 16 with braid larger than that. I'd go 16. You won't save much weight going with a 12. My braid rods are Y16, Y8, 5mm fly, then 3mm to the tip. No problems with up to 20# braid. I think my largest spool size is 42mm. People that cast them want to buy my personal rods.

Chuck

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane

Thank you all very much. Great info. Q: Can any of you put me onto a reference chart that lists the HEIGHT (rod surface to the top of the guide) of the Fuji Alconite Concept Spinning Guide and the BMHG Hialoy Match Guides. With that info I should be able to figure out pretty quickly which guides I need. Thanks from an amateur rod builder.

Joe

Joe, if you are fishing the streams like I do, casting distance is not of a great concern. I am using 6# xl mono and my butt guide will be a 16 then an 8 and 4.5's on out. I am using a Shimano 1000 reel. I get excellent distance & accuracy. I use TK's 27X formula to locate the chocker guide. I will be building on one of Gary Loomis' HM blank as soon as it gets here. Can't wait.
Thanks again to Karen Hapka & her crew, Jon Bial & Gary for a great dinner in High Point. My sister-in-law couldn't believe such a fine dinner place was in High Point.
Joe, the Fuji catalog has heights & dimensions of most all their guides, as does Amtac.
Bill

Hi Joe,

I just built my go-to smallmouth rod for this season - I fish light Brewer slider jigs in rivers: [www.flickr.com]

The rod is modeled after a smallmouth rod detailed in Rodmaker V7, #1, pg. 10. The rod is built on a 6’ durable and light Batson SB721 blank with Alconite guides. It’s got a 25Y butt guide and casts great with braid using a Quantum 10 reel (40mm diameter). It balances on the leading edge of the no foregrip handle. Here are the notes I kept on this rod. Specs are from tip to butt:

4.5X6 tip top
6 8cm
6 17.5cm
6 27cm
6 36cm
6 45.5cm
10Y 67cm
18Y 88.5cm
25Y 113cm

18 butt plug as a winding check
Fuji NPS 18 seat trimmed to 14cm
Size 18 foam arbor cut in down, halfed and fitted at seat ends
5” EVA Pacbay RB5AD4B rear grip
Rubber butt cap

I’m hard on rods as I often punch through underbrush to wadefish and scramble over rocks. This set-up works for me.

My next rod will have the new Fuji K guides instead of Ys. At this year’s ICRBE, Donnie of Angler’s Resource had an informative set-up to show how these new guides guide line around and through when in a strong cross wind. The demo made sense to me. Here’s a video of the K guides in action. Be sure to turn up the sound to get your groove on:
[www.youtube.com]

From my view, you won’t have any problems using a 25Y, a 44mm spool, braid and a short blank.

Joe,

I build 6' to 6'6" ML spinning rods for river smallies. My recipe for most of them has been - BYAG25, BYAG12, BLAG6's (usually 4) for the runners to the tip. I'm using #8 XL mono with several different reels. This setup seems to work for me very well.

Rog